Buoyed by the 151-run lead it had established after scoring 315 in response to UAE’s first-innings total of 164, the Netherlands was clinical in bowling UAE out for 276 in its second innings, which UAE could achieve primarily because of Shaiman Anwar’s gritty 148.

But, chasing 126, the Netherlands found the going tough, in particular against Zaheer Maqsood, the legspinner, but eventually Roelof van der Merwe saw the side through with an unbeaten 27 as the Netherlands reached 128 for 6 from 42.5 overs on the final day of the contest at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

The day began with Anwar, unbeaten on 103 overnight, trying to keep UAE in the game after the rest of the batting contributed a mere 33 runs by stumps on the second day. At the other end there was Saqlain Haider, who resumed on eight. The two were left with the unenviable task of pulling UAE out of the ditch and it managed to do so with Haider adding 41 runs to his overnight tally. By the time Haider became Quirijn Gunning’s second scalp, the duo had added 144 runs and guided UAE to a respectable 224.

Hopes of more runs, however, took a beating when Ahmed Raza and Anwar fell with the team total on 225. Farhan Ahmed contributed with a useful 17 and Maqsood made a crucial 28 before becoming Ahsan Malik’s third victim of the day, leaving the Netherlands with a modest target to chase down.

The Netherlands’ batsmen were never in danger of mucking up the run chase but they were unable to make the most of decent starts and it became a bit of a concern for the side once it lost Max O’Dowd (36) and Stephan Myburgh (27). To its relief, van der Merwe stuck around and found an able partner in Pieter Seelaar to seal the deal with the clock winding down.

Hong Kong v Scotland For the third day in succession, rain pounded the Mission Road ground in Mong Kok and the umpires, who inspected the playing area at the start of the day, decided to abandon the match.